Conveyance system, conveyance method, and recording medium recording conveyance program

ABSTRACT

A conveyance system according to the present disclosure includes a conveyance request receiver that receives the conveyance requests of the conveyance targets, a starting area selector that selects a starting area from among the partial areas, a partial area traveling order setter that sets the starting area to one of the partial areas to be traveled first and sets partial area traveling order for traveling of an automatic conveyance apparatus, and a storage position traveling order setter that sets storage position traveling order of the automatic conveyance apparatus inside each of the partial areas. The automatic conveyance apparatus travels the partial areas in accordance with the partial area traveling order and travels the storage positions in accordance with the storage position traveling order inside each of the partial areas so as to convey the conveyance targets corresponding to the received conveyance requests inside the entire area.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-067738 filed onApr. 13, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a conveyance system, a conveyancemethod, and a recording medium recording a conveyance program.

In general, a picking system has been proposed in which, upon receivinga picking order (conveyance request), the system travels storagepositions of a plurality of items included in the picking order, picksthe items in turn, and conveys the items to a dispatch area (shipmentposition).

A system that classifies, when specified items are to be picked up bytraveling a plurality of storage shelves in order, data of the items tobe picked up according to item storage zones, rearrange the data of theitems for each storage zone, and output instructions for picking up theitems according to the rearranged order has been used, for example.Furthermore, a system that determines a picking sequence that attainsthe least number of times traveling is performed and the least number ofpicking times has been used.

In the general picking systems, one of a plurality of items to be pickedfirst in picking order when storage positions of the plurality of itemsin the picking order are traveled to pick the items in turn is notsufficiently taken into consideration. Therefore, a picking startposition is concentrated at a certain position, and accordingly, loss ofa conveyance time may occur due to traffic congestion.

Furthermore, when a picking start position is to be changed after thepicking sequence is determined, the determination of the pickingsequence is required to be performed again from the beginning, andtherefore, the determination of a starting position of the picking maynot be flexible.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a conveyance system that realizesflexibility of a determination of a starting position of picking, aconveyance method, and a recording medium recording a conveyanceprogram.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a conveyance system inwhich a plurality of partial areas are set inside an entire area in awarehouse, a plurality of storage positions storing conveyance targetsare set inside each of the partial areas, and an automatic conveyanceapparatus conveys the conveyance targets corresponding to receivedconveyance request inside the entire area, includes a conveyance requestreceiver that receives the conveyance requests, a starting area selectorthat selects a starting area that is one of the plurality of partialareas that is traveled first, a partial area traveling order setter thatsets the starting area selected by the starting area selector to one ofthe partial area to be traveled first and sets partial area travelingorder that is order of the plurality of partial areas traveled by theautomatic conveyance apparatus, and a storage position traveling ordersetter that sets storage position traveling order that is order ofstorage positions traveled by the automatic conveyance apparatus insideeach of the partial areas. The automatic conveyance apparatus travelsthe plurality of partial areas in accordance with the partial areatraveling order and travels the plurality of storage positions inaccordance with the storage position traveling order inside each of theplurality of partial areas so as to convey the conveyance targetscorresponding to the received conveyance requests inside the entirearea.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a conveyancemethod in which a plurality of partial areas are set inside an entirearea in a warehouse, a plurality of storage positions storing conveyancetargets are set inside each of the partial areas, and an automaticconveyance apparatus conveys the conveyance targets corresponding toreceived conveyance request inside the entire area, causes one or moreprocessors to execute receiving the conveyance requests of the pluralityof conveyance targets, selecting a starting area that is one of theplurality of partial areas that is traveled first, setting the startingarea to one of the partial areas to be traveled first and settingpartial area traveling order that is order of the plurality of partialareas traveled by the automatic conveyance apparatus, and settingstorage position traveling order that is order of storage positionstraveled by the automatic conveyance apparatus inside each of thepartial areas. The automatic conveyance apparatus travels the pluralityof partial areas in accordance with the partial area traveling order andtravels the plurality of storage positions in accordance with thestorage position traveling order inside each of the plurality of partialareas so as to convey the conveyance targets corresponding to thereceived conveyance requests inside the entire area.

According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, anon-transitory computer-readable recording medium records a conveyanceprogram that sets a plurality of partial areas inside an entire area ina warehouse, that sets a plurality of storage positions storingconveyance targets inside each of the partial areas, and that causes anautomatic conveyance apparatus to convey the conveyance targetscorresponding to received conveyance request inside the entire area. Theconveyance program causes one or more processors to execute receivingthe conveyance requests of the plurality of conveyance targets,selecting a starting area that is one of the plurality of partial areasthat is traveled first, setting the starting area to one of the partialareas to be traveled first and setting partial area traveling order thatis order of the plurality of partial areas traveled by the automaticconveyance apparatus, and setting storage position traveling order thatis order of storage positions traveled by the automatic conveyanceapparatus inside each of the partial areas. The automatic conveyanceapparatus travels the plurality of partial areas in accordance with thepartial area traveling order and travels the plurality of storagepositions in accordance with the storage position traveling order insideeach of the plurality of partial areas so as to convey the conveyancetargets corresponding to the received conveyance requests inside theentire area.

The present disclosure may provide a conveyance system that realizesflexibility of a determination of a starting position of picking, aconveyance method, and a recording medium recording a conveyanceprogram.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription with reference where appropriate to the accompanyingdrawings. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore,the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solveany or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conveyancesystem according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of awarehouse to which the conveyance system according to the embodiment ofthe present disclosure is applied.

FIG. 3 is a table showing an example of item information used in theconveyance system according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of order information used in theconveyance system according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of unit order information used inthe conveyance system according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a table showing an example of set order information used inthe conveyance system according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 is a table showing an example of set order information used inthe conveyance system according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a traveling route set inthe conveyance system according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a calculation example of a conveyancetime in the conveyance system according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a calculation example of a conveyancetime in the conveyance system according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 11 is a table showing an example of conveyance time informationcalculated in the conveyance system according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of conveyance timeinformation calculated in the conveyance system according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of conveyance timeinformation calculated in the conveyance system according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of aconveyance process executed in the conveyance system according to theembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below withreference to the accompanying drawings to facilitate understanding ofthe present disclosure. It should be noted that the following embodimentis an example in which the present disclosure is embodied, and does notlimit the technical scope of the present disclosure.

Conveyance System 10

As shown in FIG. 1, the conveyance system 10 according to the embodimentof the present disclosure includes an operation management server 1, anorder management server 2, and automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 (alsoreferred to as AGVs or automatic guided vehicles). The operationmanagement server 1 and the order management server 2 may communicatewith each other through a communication network N1, such as a wired LANor a wireless LAN. Furthermore, the operation management server 1 andthe automatic conveyance apparatus 3 may communicate with each otherthrough a communication network N2, such as a wireless LAN. The ordermanagement server 2 may also communicate with customer terminals 4 via acommunication network N3, such as the Internet.

The conveyance system 10 is employed, for example, in a warehouselogistics warehouse) storing items (conveyance targets). When receivingan order for an item from a customer (customer terminal 4), theconveyance system 10 outputs a conveyance instruction to the automaticconveyance apparatus 3. When obtaining the conveyance instruction, theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3 moves to a storage position (storageshelf) of the item, receives the item from a worker, and conveys theitem to a dispatch area. The customer terminal 4 is an informationprocessing apparatus, such as a personal computer or a smartphone, and acustomer may access a website (order page) operated by the ordermanagement server 2 using the customer terminal 4 so as to order anitem, for example.

The order management server 2 can receive orders for items from theindividual customer terminals 4, and integrates individual receivedorder information to be output to the operation management server 1. Theoperation management server 1 manages operations of the individualautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3 and outputs conveyance instructions(traveling instructions) to the individual automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 based on the order information. Each of the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3 autonomously travels along a preset travelingroute based on the conveyance instruction, picks an item included in theorder information from a storage shelf, and conveys the item to thedispatch area. Note that the autonomous traveling method of theautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3 is not particularly limited, andgeneral methods, such as a method using a magnetic tape installed on afloor and a marker that prescribes a traveling operation (controlinformation), may be employed.

Furthermore, each of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3, forexample, includes a plurality of containers (accommodation sections),each of which accommodates customer's ordered items, so that a pluralityof items for customers are conveyed at once by single picking traveling(traveling from a standby area to the dispatch area through traveling onindividual shelves). For example, when one of the automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 includes two containers, the automatic conveyanceapparatus 3 may convey items ordered by two customers at once. Theoperation management server 1 outputs the conveyance instructioncorresponding to the order information of one or more customers to theindividual automatic conveyance apparatuses 3.

In this embodiment, a case where the conveyance system 10 is applied tothe warehouse shown in FIG. 2 is illustrated as an example. Thewarehouse shown in FIG. 2 has a plurality of partial areas A1 to A3(storage areas) inside an entire area A0, and, a plurality of storageshelves (storage positions) for storing items (conveyance targets) arearranged inside the partial areas A1 to A3. For example, shelves T11 toT13 are arranged inside the partial area A1, shelves T21 to T23 arearranged inside the partial area A2, and shelves T31 to T33 are arrangedinside the partial area A3. The partial area A1 is a storage area forstoring room temperature items, for example, the partial area A2 is astorage area for storing cold items, for example, and the partial areaA3 is a storage area for storing frozen items, for example.

In the partial area A1, “bread” is stored on the shelf T11, “instantnoodles” is stored on the shelf T12, and “water” is stored on the shelfT13. Furthermore, in the partial area A2, “banana” and “apple” arestored on the shelf T21, and “carrot” and “cucumber” are stored on theshelf T22, and “pork” and “fish” are stored on the shelf T23. In thepartial area A3, “frozen vegetables” is stored on the shelf T31, “ice”is stored on the shelf T32, and “ice cream” is stored on the shelf T33.

Standby areas P for the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 are also setinside the entire area A0. For example, in the entire area A0, a standbyarea P1 where an automatic conveyance apparatus 3A (AGV1) is waiting, astandby area P2 where an automatic conveyance apparatus 3B (AGV2) iswaiting, and a standby area P3 where an automatic conveyance apparatus3C (AGV3) is waiting are set. Each of the automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 waits at a corresponding one of the predetermined standbylocations P before receiving a conveyance instruction from the operationmanagement server 1.

Furthermore, in the warehouse, operation rules for the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3 are set in advance. For example, as order ofmovement among the partial areas, a rule of circulation in order of A1,A2, A3, A1, A2, and so on (partial area traveling order rule) is set.Also, within each of the partial areas, a rule for traveling inascending order of numbers of the shelves (e.g., order of T11, T12, T13)(storage position traveling order rule) is set. In addition, travelingroutes where the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 travel are set inadvance. Arrow marks shown in FIG. 2 indicate examples of the travelingroutes.

For example, when receiving a conveyance instruction for order of items“instant noodles”, “frozen vegetables”, and “ice cream” from theoperation management server 1, the automatic conveyance apparatus 3C(AGV3) picks, for a setting in which items of the partial area A3 are tobe picked first, for example, “frozen vegetables” on the shelf T31 andthen “ice cream” of the shelf T33, moves next to the partial area A1 topick “instant noodles” on the shelf T12, and collectively conveys allthe items to the dispatch area.

In this embodiment, the conveyance system 10 corresponds to a conveyancesystem according to the present disclosure, but the conveyance systemaccording to the present disclosure may include only the operationmanagement server 1 or may include at least one of the operationmanagement server 1, the order management server 2, and the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3.

Order Management Server 2

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the order management server 2 includes acontroller 21, a storage 22, an operation display 23, and a communicator24. Note that the order management server 2 is not limited to a singlecomputer, but may be a computer system including a plurality ofcomputers operating cooperatively. In addition, various types ofprocessing that are to be executed by the order management server 2 maybe executed by one or more processors in a distributed manner.

The communicator 24 is a communication interface for connecting theorder management server 2 to the communication network N1 in a wired orwireless manner to execute data communication in accordance with apredetermined communication protocol with the operation managementserver 1 through the communication network N1. Furthermore, thecommunicator 24 is a communication interface for connecting the ordermanagement server 2 to the communication network N3 in a wired orwireless manner to execute data communication in accordance with apredetermined communication protocol with at least one of the customerterminals 4 through the communication network N3.

The operation display 23 is a user interface including a display, suchas a liquid-crystal display or an organic electroluminescence (EL)display, that displays various types of information, and an operationsection, such as a mouse, a keyboard, or a touch panel that receivesoperations.

The storage 22 is a non-volatile storage, such as a hard disk drive(HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), that stores various types ofinformation. Specifically, the storage 22 stores data, such as iteminformation D1 and order information D2. The item information D1includes information about the items stored in the warehouse. The orderinformation D2 includes information about a customer's order. FIG. 3 isa diagram illustrating an example of the item information D1, and FIG. 4is a diagram illustrating an example of the order information D2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the item information D1 includes “item ID”, “itemname”, “partial area ID”, “shelf ID”, “priority order within partialarea”, and “picking operation time” for each item. The item ID isidentification information of an item, and the item name is a name ofthe item. The partial area ID is identification information of a partialarea where a shelf storing the item is located. In this embodiment, asthe partial area IDs, for example, “A1” indicating the partial area A1,“A2” indicating the partial area A2, “A3” indicating the partial area A3are registered. The shelf ID is identification information of a shelfwhere the item is stored. In this embodiment, as the shelf IDs, forexample, “T11” indicating the shelf T11, “T12” indicating the shelf T12,and “T13” indicating the shelf T13 are registered.

The priority order within partial area is information indicating theorder for picking items in the partial area. The priority order withinpartial area corresponds to the order of movement of the automaticconveyance apparatus 3 within the partial area. For example, in thepartial area A1, priority order is set to the shelf T11, the shelf T12,and the shelf T13 in this order. Furthermore, in the partial area A2,priority order is set to the shelf T21, the shelf T22, and the shelf T23in this order. Furthermore, in the partial area A3, priority order isset to the shelf T31, the shelf T32, and the shelf T33 in this order.The priority order within partial area is set based on a storageposition traveling order rule described below.

The picking operation time is information indicating a time required fora picking operation per the unit number of items. For example, a periodof time from when one of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 arrivesat the shelf T11 or the partial area A1 to when the automatic conveyanceapparatus 3 accommodates “bread” that is an ordered item, that is, “10seconds”, is registered in association with “bread”. The pickingoperation time is set in advance based on information of past workhistory. Note that the work of picking an ordered item from a shelf andstoring the item in a container of the automatic conveyance apparatus 3may be performed by a worker in charge of the partial area A1 or by apicking mechanism (not shown) of the automatic conveyance apparatus 3.

The item information D1 is stored in the storage section 22 in advance,for example, by the registration operation performed by a warehouseadministrator. Furthermore, the administrator may update the iteminformation D1 where appropriate. The item information D1 may also beregistered in the operation management server 1.

As shown in FIG. 4, the order information D2 includes information on“order ID”, “customer ID”, “ordered item”, “quantity”, “order date andtime”. The order ID is identification information of an order, and thecustomer ID is identification information of a customer who ordered theitem. The ordered item is a name of the item ordered by the customer,and the quantity is the number of ordered items. The order date and timeis information on the date and time when the order is received from thecustomer. The order information D2 shown in FIG. 4 indicates followinginformation, for example, a customer of “CUSTOM1” ordered “2 ice creams”and “3 pieces of ice” on a date and time “T1”, and a customer “CUSTOM2”ordered “5 bananas” and “5 apples” in a date and time “T2”.

The order information D2 is registered by the controller 21 every timethe order management server 2 receives an order from one of the customerterminals 4.

Note that, as another embodiment, a portion or all of the iteminformation D1 and the order information D2 may be stored in anotherserver accessible from the order management server 2 through thecommunication network N3.

Furthermore, the storage 22 stores a control program, such as aconveyance program for causing the controller 21 to execute a conveyanceprocess (refer to FIG. 14) described below. For example, the conveyanceprogram non-temporarily recorded in a computer-readable recordingmedium, such as a CD or a DVD, is read by a reading apparatus (notillustrated), such as a CD drive or a DVD drive, included in the ordermanagement server 2, and is stored in the storage 22.

The controller 21 includes control devices, such as a CPU, a ROM, and aRAM. The CPU is a processor which executes various types of calculationprocessing. The ROM is a non-volatile storage storing in advance controlprograms, such as Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) and an operatingsystem (OS), for causing the CPU to execute the various types ofcalculation processing. The RAM is a volatile or non-volatile storagestoring various types of information, and is used as transitory storagememory (working area) for various processes that are executed by theCPU. The controller 21 controls the order management server 2 by causingthe CPU to execute the various control programs stored in advance in theROM or the storage 22.

Specifically, the controller 21 receives an order of an item from anyone of the customer terminals 4. When receiving an order from one of thecustomer terminals 4, the controller 21 registers content of the orderin the order information D2. Furthermore, the controller 21 outputs theorder information D2 to the operation management server 1. For example,the controller 21 outputs, to the operation management server 1, theorder information D2 (refer to FIG. 4) obtained by integrating aplurality of orders received in a predetermined period of time. In thisway, the controller 21 also outputs the order information D2 to theoperation management server 1 in a predetermined cycle.

As another embodiment, the controller 21 may output the orderinformation D2 to the operation management server 1 when receiving arequest for outputting the order information D2 from the operationmanagement server 1. For example, the operation management server 1 mayoutput a request for outputting the order information D2 to the ordermanagement server 2 based on an operation status of the automaticconveyance apparatus 3.

Furthermore, when outputting the order information D2 to the operationmanagement server 1, the controller 21 may delete the order informationD2 from the storage 22.

Operation Management Server 1

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the operation management server 1 includes acontroller 11, a storage 12, an operation display 13, and a communicator14. Note that the operation management server 1 is not limited to asingle computer, but may be a computer system including a plurality ofcomputers operating cooperatively. Furthermore, various types ofprocessing that to be executed by the operation management server 1 maybe executed by one or more processors in a distributed manner.

The communicator 14 is a communication interface for connecting theoperation management server 1 to the communication network N1 in a wiredor wireless manner to execute data communication in accordance with apredetermined communication protocol with the order management server 2through the communication network N1. Furthermore, the communicator 14is a communication interface for connecting the operation managementserver 1 to the communication network N2 in a wired or wireless mannerto execute data communication in accordance with a predeterminedcommunication protocol with at least one automatic conveyance apparatus3 through the communication network N2.

The operation display 13 is a user interface including a display, suchas a liquid-crystal display or an organic EL display, that displaysvarious types of information, and an operation section, such as a mouse,a keyboard, or a touch panel that receives operations.

The storage 12 is a non-volatile storage, such as an HDD or an SSD,storing various information. Specifically, the storage 12 stores data,such as the unit order information D3 and the set order information D4.The unit order information D3 includes information about an order foreach customer (unit order). The set order information D4 includesinformation about a set order obtained by combining unit orders. FIG. 5is a diagram illustrating an example of the unit order information D3,and FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the set orderinformation D4.

As shown in FIG. 5, the unit order information D3 includes informationon “unit order ID”, “partial area ID”, “shelf ID”, “priority orderwithin partial area”, and “picking operation time” for each customer.The unit order ID is identification information of a unit order andidentification information of a customer. For example, a unit order ID“O1” indicates a customer “CUSTOM1”, a unit order ID “O2” indicates acustomer “CUSTOM2”, a unit order ID “O3” indicates a customer “CUSTOM3”,a unit order ID “O4” indicates a customer “CUSTOM4”, a unit order ID“O5” indicates a customer “CUSTOM5”, and a unit order ID “O6” indicatesa customer “CUSTOM6”.

The partial area ID is identification information of a partial areawhere a shelf storing an item is located. For example, the customer“CUSTOM1” orders “ice cream” and “ice” (refer to FIG. 4), and “icecream” is stored on the shelf T33 and “ice” is stored on the shelf T32(refer to FIG. 3), and therefore, identification information indicatingthe partial area A3 where the shelves T33 and T32 are located isregistered in the partial area ID corresponding to “O1”. Furthermore,“T33” and “T32” are registered in the shelf ID corresponding to “O1”.Moreover, a rank “3” for the shelf T33 and a rank “2” for the shelf T32are registered in a column of the priority order within partial areacorresponding to “O1”. In addition, in a picking operation timecorresponding to “O1”, a picking operation time for the item “ice cream”on the shelf T33, that is, “40 seconds (20 seconds×2 pieces)” and apicking operation time for the item “ice” on the shelf T32, that is, “60seconds (20 seconds×3 pieces)” are registered.

For example, the customer “CUSTOM3” orders “ice cream” and “instantnoodles” (refer to FIG. 4), and “ice cream” is stored on the shelf T33and “instant noodles” is stored on the shelf T12 (refer to FIG. 3), andtherefore, identification information “A3” indicating the partial areaA3 where the shelf T33 is located and identification information “A1”indicating the partial area A1 where the shelf T12 is located areregistered in the partial area ID corresponding to “O3”. Furthermore,“T33” and “T12” are registered in the shelf ID corresponding to “O3”.Moreover, a rank “3” for the shelf T33 and a rank “2” for the shelf T12are registered in a column of the priority order within partial areacorresponding to “O3”. In addition, in the picking operation timecorresponding to “O3”, a picking operation time for the item “ice cream”on the shelf T33, that is, “20 seconds (20 seconds×1 pieces)” and apicking operation time for the item “instant noodles” on the shelf T12,that is, “250 seconds (10 seconds×25 pieces)” are registered.

When obtaining the order information D2 from the order management server2, the controller 11 generates the unit order information D3 withreference to the item information D1 (refer to FIG. 3).

As shown in FIG. 6, the set order information D4 includes information on“set order ID”, “unit order ID”, “partial area ID”, “shelf ID”,“priority order within partial area”, and a “picking operation time” foreach set order obtained by combining unit orders. The set order ID isidentification information of a set order obtained by combining unitorders. The set order is obtained by combination performed by thecontroller 11 based on a predetermined condition (described below). Forexample, the set order ID “SET1” is identification information of a setorder obtained by combining the unit order IDs “O1” and “O3”, the setorder ID “SET2” is identification information of a set order obtained bycombining the unit order IDs “O2” and “O4”, and the set order ID “SET3”is identification information of a set order obtained by combining theunit order IDs “O5” and “O6”.

Identification information of unit orders included in a set order isregistered as the unit order ID. For example, as the unit order IDscorresponding to “SET1”, the unit order IDs “O1” and “O3” areregistered.

The partial area ID is identification information of a partial areawhere shelves storing items corresponding to the unit orders included inthe set order are located. For example, since the set order ID “SET1”includes the unit order IDs “O1” and “O3”, “A1” indicating the partialarea A1 corresponding to “O1” and “A3” indicating the partial area A3corresponding to “O3” are registered.

In the shelf ID, for example, “T32” indicating the shelf T32 and “T33”indicating the shelf T33 of the items included in the unit order ID “O1”and “T12” indicating the shelf T12 and “T33” indicating the shelf T33 ofthe items included in the unit order ID “O3” that correspond to the setorder ID “SET1” are registered.

For example, in the priority order within partial area, a priority rank“2” of the shelf T12 in the partial area A1 and priority ranks “2” and“3” of the shelves T32 and T33 in the partial area A3 that correspond tothe set order ID “SET1” are registered.

In the picking operation time, a picking operation time “250 seconds” ofthe item “instant noodles” on the shelf T12 and a picking operation time“60 seconds” of the item “ice” on the shelf T32, and a picking operationtime “60 seconds” of the item “ice cream” on the shelf T33 thatcorrespond to the set order ID “SET1” are registered. Note that thepicking operation time for the item “ice cream” on the shelf T33 isobtained by adding a picking operation time “40 seconds (20 seconds×2pieces) for the item “ice cream” of the order (O1) of the customer“CUSTOM1” and a picking operation time “20 seconds (20 seconds×1 piece)for the item “ice cream” of the order (O3) of the customer “CUSTOM3” toeach other.

When obtaining the order information D2 from the order management server2, the controller 11 generates a combination pattern of the set ordersbased on a predetermined condition and generates the set orderinformation D4. For example, the controller 11 generates a combinationpattern A [(O1, O3), (O2, O4), (O5, O6)] by combining a set order [O1,O3], a set order [O2, O4], and a set order [O5, O6]. FIG. 6 shows anexample of set order information D4 corresponding to the combinationpattern A. As described in detail below, the controller 11 generates aplurality of combination patterns based on the predetermined conditionand generates the set order information D4 corresponding to theindividual combination patterns.

Note that, as another embodiment, a portion or all of the unit orderinformation D3 and the set order information D4 may be stored in anotherserver accessible from the operation management server 1 through thecommunication network N1. In this case, the controller 11 of theoperation management server 1 may acquire the information from the otherserver and execute each process, such as a conveyance process describedbelow (refer to FIG. 14).

Furthermore, the storage 12 stores a control program, such as aconveyance program for causing the controller 11 to execute a conveyanceprocess (refer to FIG. 14) described below. For example, the conveyanceprogram is non-temporarily recorded in a computer-readable recordingmedium, such as a CD or a DVD, is read by a reading apparatus (notillustrated), such as a CD drive or a DVD drive, included in theoperation management server 1, and is stored in the storage 12.

The controller 11 includes control devices, such as a CPU, a ROM, and aRAM. The CPU is a processor which executes various types of calculationprocessing. The ROM is a non-volatile storage storing in advance controlprograms, such as BIOS and OS, for causing the CPU to execute thevarious types of calculation processing. The RAM is a volatile ornon-volatile storage storing various types of information, and is usedas transitory storage memory (working area) for various processes thatare executed by the CPU. The controller 11 controls the operationmanagement server 1 by causing the CPU to execute the various controlprograms stored in advance in the ROM or the storage 12.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the controller 11 includes variousprocessors, such as a conveyance request receiver 111, a combinationpattern generator 112, a starting area selector 113, a partial areatraveling order setter 114, a storage position traveling order setter115, an appropriateness evaluator 116, a combination pattern selector117, and a conveyance instructor 118. Note that the controller 11functions as the various processors when the CPU executes variousprocesses in accordance with the conveyance program. Moreover, some orall of the processors may be configured by an electronic circuit. Notethat the conveyance program may cause a plurality of processors tofunction as the processor described above.

The conveyance request receiver 111 accepts a conveyance request(picking order) for items (conveyance targets). Specifically, theconveyance request receiver 111 receives the order information D2corresponding to a plurality of customer orders from the ordermanagement server 2. For example, the conveyance request receiver 111receives the order information D2 (refer to FIG. 4) including orders ofthe customer CUSTOM1 to CUSTOM6.

The combination pattern generator 112 combines a plurality of conveyancerequests received by the conveyance request receiver 111 to generatedifferent combination patterns of different combinations (conveyancerequest combination patterns of the present disclosure).

Specifically, first, when the conveyance request receiver 111 receivesthe order information D2 (refer to FIG. 4) including six orders (unitorder) of the customers CUSTOM1 to CUSTOM6, the combination patterngenerator 112 generates the unit order information D3 (refer to FIG. 5)with reference to the item information D1 (refer to FIG. 3).

Next, the combination pattern generator 112 generates combinationpatterns of the six unit orders. Here, since the number of possiblecombinations of the six unit orders is large and a load of thecalculation processing is large, in this embodiment, the combinationpattern generator 112 generates a predetermined number of combinationpatterns based on a predetermined condition. Specifically, thepredetermined condition includes the maximum number of combinationpatterns to be generated (upper limit). This prevents generation of ahuge number of combination patterns. Furthermore, the combinationpattern generator 112 generates combination patterns based on thepredetermined condition and generates the set order information D4(refer to FIG. 6) corresponding to the combination patterns.

For example, the combination pattern generator 112 sets a combinationsize of a set order (an example of the predetermined condition).Specifically, the predetermined condition includes the number or themaximum number of conveyance requests to be combined per combinationpattern. The combination size corresponds to the number of containersfor customers (conveyance requests) mounted on the automatic conveyanceapparatus 3. For example, when two containers are mounted on theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3, the combination pattern generator 112sets a combination size of “2”, and when three containers are mounted onthe automatic conveyance apparatus 3, the combination pattern generator112 sets a combination size of “3”. When the combination size of “2” isset, the combination pattern generator 112 sets three groups (setorders) obtained by dividing the six unit orders (O1 to O6) into threegroups each of which include two of the six unit orders.

Subsequently, the combination pattern generator 112 generates acombination pattern of the set orders based on a priority condition (anexample of the predetermined condition). For example, when a prioritycondition “preferentially combine unit orders including a frozen item”is set, the combination pattern generator 112 preferentially combinesthe unit orders “O1” and “O3” including an order of a frozen item (referto FIGS. 4 and 5). Accordingly, the picking operations on frozen itemsare preferentially integrated, and therefore, the number of times theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3 passes through the partial area A3where frozen items are stored may be reduced. Specifically, since itemsin a specific category are preferentially integrated, the pickingoperations can be more efficiently performed.

Thus, the predetermined condition includes priority information forspecifying a conveyance request to be preferentially combined from amonga plurality of conveyance requests. Furthermore, attribute informationis set in advance to conveyance targets (items), and the priorityinformation specifies a conveyance request to be preferentially combinedfrom among a plurality of conveyance requests based on the attributeinformation set in the conveyance targets included in a plurality ofcombinations of the conveyance requests. Moreover, the priorityinformation instructs that, among the plurality of conveyance requests,conveyance requests including the conveyance targets having thepredetermined attribute information set thereto are preferentiallycombined with each other. For example, the priority information is theinformation (area information of the present disclosure) of the partialarea (“partial area of frozen items” in the above example) to which thestorage position (shelf) of the conveyance target belongs.

Subsequently, the combination pattern generator 112 generatescombination patterns in a random manner (an example of the predeterminedcondition). Specifically, the combination pattern generator 112 randomlygenerates combination patterns each of which is a combination of two ofthe four unit orders “O2”, “O4”, “O5”, and “O6” obtained by exceptingthe combination [O1, O3] that has been a determined combination from theunit orders “O1” to “O6”. The maximum number of combination patternsgenerated by the four unit orders is “3”, and therefore, threecombination patterns are generated. Accordingly, the number ofcombination patterns of the six combination targets (unit orders) can bereduced to three. For example, the combination pattern generator 112generates three combination patterns, that is, a combination of [(O1,O3), (O2, O4), (O5, O6)] (combination pattern A), a combination of [(O1,O3), (O2, O5), (O4, O6)] (combination pattern B), and a combination of[(O1, O3), (O2, O6), (O4, O5)] (combination pattern C). Note that thesethree combination patterns A, B, and C are selection candidates at thistime point, and a most appropriate pattern is selected from among thethree combination patterns A, B, and C in accordance with evaluationdescribed below.

Thus, the combination pattern generator 112 randomly generates acombination pattern from among a plurality of candidate combinationpatterns when there are a plurality of candidate combination patternsthat satisfy the predetermined condition.

Next, the combination pattern generator 112 generates the set orderinformation D4 (refer to FIG. 6). Here, a method for generating the setorder information D4 corresponding to the combination pattern A ([(O1,O3), (O2, O4), (O5, O6)]) will be described below. Specifically, thecombination pattern generator 112 integrates individual unit orders ofthe unit order information D3 (refer to FIG. 5) to generate the setorder information D4. For example, the combination pattern generator 112integrates the partial area ID, the shelf ID, the priority order withinpartial area, and the picking operation time for the individual setorders (“SET1”, “SET2”, and “SET3”). Furthermore, the combinationpattern generator 112 rearranges order of items into order from asmallest number of priority ranks in the partial area. In addition, thecombination pattern generator 112 integrates the same partial area IDsor the same shelf IDs if any. For example, the shelf ID “T33” of theunit order “O1” and the shelf ID “T33” of the unit order “O3” are thesame, and therefore, are integrated into one. Furthermore, thecombination pattern generator 112 registers a total time in the pickingoperation time when the IDs are integrated. Note that the combinationpattern generator 112 registers, in the picking operation time of“SET1”, a total time “60 seconds” obtained by adding a picking operationtime “40 seconds (20 seconds×2 pieces)” for the item “ice cream” of theorder (O1) of the customer “CUSTOM1” and a picking operation time “20seconds (20 seconds×1 piece) for the item “ice cream” of the order (O3)of the customer “CUSTOM3” to each other.

As described above, the combination pattern generator 112 generates aplurality of combination patterns of the set orders and generates theset order information D4 (refer to FIG. 6) corresponding to thecombination patterns.

The following is a description of a conveyance procedure of one of theautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3. First, the automatic conveyanceapparatus 3 moves from a corresponding one of the standby areas P (referto FIG. 2) to a partial area where items are to be first picked. Theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3 then picks the items in the arrivedpartial area while moving in order of a smaller shelf number (in orderof priority) in accordance with the storage position traveling orderrule. When the picking operation in the partial area is completed, theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3 moves to another partial area if thereare items to be picked in the other partial area. At that time, theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3 moves to the other partial area andpicks the items in accordance with the operation rule (the partial areatraveling order rule). When the picking operation of all items iscompleted, the automatic conveyance apparatus 3 moves along thetraveling route (refer to FIG. 2) to the dispatch area.

According to the conveyance procedure in accordance with the operationrule, a picking sequence within a partial area is fixed, but a pickingsequence among partial areas is set in a predetermined circulationorder, and therefore, the partial area where the picking is to be firstperformed may be freely selected, and the entire picking sequence isfixed once a partial area where the picking is to be first performed isselected. Accordingly, the partial area where the picking is to be firstperformed may be distributed among the plurality of automatic conveyanceapparatuses.

Returning to FIG. 1, the starting area selector 113 selects a startingarea which is a partial area to be first traveled from among theplurality of partial areas.

For example, in the set order information D4 shown in FIG. 6 generatedby the combination pattern generator 112, since arrangement in order ofpriority in a partial area is employed, a partial area ID with thehighest priority is designated as the starting area. In this case,concentration on a partial area with small partial area ID as a startingarea may occur. For example, the partial area A1 has the highestpriority in the set order “SET1”, and the partial area A1 has thehighest priority also in the set order “SET3”, and therefore, when thepicking operation starts, the automatic conveyance apparatus 3 in chargeof the set order “SET1” and the automatic conveyance apparatus 3 incharge of the set order “SET3” are concentrated on the partial area A1.

Therefore, the starting area selector 113 changes the picking sequenceso that the partial areas (starting areas) where the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3 first perform picking is distributed.Specifically, the starting area selector 113 designates starting areasfor individual set orders.

In this example of the embodiment, the starting area selector 113selects one of the partial areas A1 to A3 as the starting area. Anymethod of selecting the starting area may be used as long as thestarting areas does not concentrate on a specific partial area. Forexample, the starting area selector 113 may randomly select the startingarea such that frequencies of selections of the partial areas A1, A2,and A3 are even. The starting area selector 113 may also select thestarting areas in accordance with an external request. For example, thestarting area selector 113 may select partial areas designated by theoperator as the starting areas. Furthermore, the starting area selector113 may measure congestion levels of the automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 in the current partial areas A1 to A3 so as to select oneof the partial areas having the smallest congestion level as thestarting area. By this, the starting areas are not concentrated on oneportion but distributed.

It is assumed here that the partial area A3 is selected as the startingarea for the set order “SET1”, and the partial area A2 is selected asthe starting area for the set order “SET2”, and the partial area A1 isselected as the starting area for the set order “SET3”. In this case,orders of the partial area IDs of “SET2” and “SET3” are the same as thatof the set order information D4 (refer to FIG. 6) generated by thecombination pattern generator 112, and therefore, the order is notrequired to be changed. On the other hand, in the set order “SET1”, thestarting area is changed from “A1” to “A3, and therefore, the startingarea selector 113 is required to change the order of picking of thepartial areas.

The starting area selector 113 changes the sequence of picking asfollows. Specifically, when the order of movement among the partialareas is set in circulation order of A1, A2, A3, A1, A2, and so on inaccordance with the traveling rule (partial area traveling order rule)and when the starting area selector 113 selects “A3” as the startingarea, the partial area IDs are rearranged in order of A3, A1, and A2. Inaddition, the starting area selector 113 changes order of the shelf IDs,the priority order within partial area, and the picking operation timesin accordance with the order of the partial area IDs. Note that thestarting area selector 113 changes the order of the shelf IDs inaccordance with a rule for moving in an ascending order of numbers ofthe shelves (for example, from T31 to T33) (storage position travelingorder rule). Thus, the starting area selector 113 automatically selectsthe starting areas in accordance with the predetermined condition.

An example of the set order information D4 rearranged as described aboveis shown in FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 7, the partial area IDs of the setorder “SET1” are “A3” and “A1” arranged in this order. This means thatthe automatic conveyance apparatus 3 which is in charge of the set order“SET1” first picks items in the partial area A3, and thereafter, movesto the partial area A1 to picks items in the partial area A1.

The partial area traveling order setter 114 sets the starting areasselected by the starting area selector 113 as first partial areas to betraveled, and in addition, sets partial area traveling order that isorder of traveling performed by the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3on the plurality of partial areas. In this embodiment, the partial areatraveling order rule is set to specify the order of traveling on theplurality of partial areas. The partial area traveling order setter 114sets the starting areas selected by the starting area selector 113 asfirst partial areas to be traveled, and in addition, sets partial areatraveling order of partial areas after the starting areas in accordancewith the partial area traveling order rule. The partial area travelingorder rule is set by the traveling order of the circulation of thepartial areas. Here, as the partial area traveling order rule, a rulefor a movement of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 circulatingamong the partial areas in order of A1, A2, A3, A1, A2, and so on isset. According to the partial area traveling order rule, the travelingorder can be uniquely determined by setting a starting area.

The storage position traveling order setter 115 sets storage positiontraveling order which is order of storage positions (storage shelves)traveled by the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 inside the individualpartial areas. Specifically, the storage position traveling order rulethat defines the order for traveling a plurality of shelves in a partialarea is set, and the storage position traveling order setter 115 setsstorage position traveling order based on the storage position travelingorder rule. For example, the storage position traveling order rule isset by ranks of shelves in a partial area, and the storage positiontraveling order setter 115 sets the storage position traveling orderbased on the ranks set in the shelves in the partial area. For example,the storage position traveling order setter 115 sets the storageposition traveling order for a plurality of shelves in a partial area inorder of proximity to the standby location P.

Each of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 travels a plurality ofpartial areas in accordance with the partial area traveling order, andalso travels a plurality of shelves in accordance with the storageposition traveling order inside each of the plurality of partial areas,so that items requested to be conveyed (picking order) are conveyedinside the entire area A0.

The appropriateness evaluator 116 evaluates appropriateness of each ofthe plurality of combination patterns generated by the combinationpattern generator 112. The appropriateness evaluator 116 evaluates theappropriateness of each of the plurality of combination patternsgenerated by the combination pattern generator 112 by performing anoperation simulation of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3.Specifically, the appropriateness evaluator 116 calculates total valuesof conveyance times of the plurality of combination patterns,respectively, by performing the operation simulation of the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3 for the plurality of combination patternsgenerated by the combination pattern generator 112, so that evaluationof the appropriateness is performed based on the total values of theconveyance times. Note that, as for the evaluation herein, a total timeof conveyance times of all set orders included in a combination patternis calculated as an evaluation value, as a concrete example. In thiscase, a combination pattern with a smallest evaluated value is the mostappropriate.

An example of an evaluation method will be described in detailhereinafter. First, the appropriateness evaluator 116 obtains currentoperation statuses of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3. Each ofthe automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 can communicate wirelessly withthe operation management server 1, and a current position, a currentspeed, and the like are transmitted to the operation management server 1at a frequency of approximately once every 10 seconds. Accordingly, theappropriateness evaluator 116 can recognize the operational statuses ofthe automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 in the warehouse in real time.

Next, the appropriateness evaluator 116 assigns the automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 to the set orders. Specifically, the appropriatenessevaluator 116 recognizes the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 that arecurrently in a standby state in the standby location P, and assigns theautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3 to the set orders on a one-to-onebasis. For example, the appropriateness evaluator 116 assigns theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3C (AGV3) to the set order “SET1”, theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3B (AGV2) to the set order “SET2”, andthe automatic conveyance apparatus 3A (AGV1) to the set order “SET3”.

Subsequently, the appropriateness evaluator 116 assigns traveling routesto the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3. Specifically, theappropriateness evaluator 116 assigns, to each of the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3, a traveling route that starts from the standbylocation P, that travels shelves in accordance with a picking sequenceto pick up items, and that reaches a goal point that is the dispatcharea. Note that the operation management server 1 stores traveling routeinformation. This traveling route information includes a standardtraveling time (a traveling time when there is no traffic congestion)and operation rules for each traveling route. The operation rulesinclude, for example, a rule for a selection of one of the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3 that is preferentially allowed to enter anintersection and the other of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3that is not allowed to enter the intersection and brought into a standbystate when the two automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 encounter eachother at the intersection.

Thereafter, the appropriateness evaluator 116 executes an operationsimulation. Specifically, the appropriateness evaluator 116 executes anoperational simulation on the individual automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 so as to calculate conveyance times of the individual setorders. A conveyance time for a set order is obtained by adding pickingoperation times for individual items, a standard traveling time for theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3 to move along the traveling route, anda congestion time to one another. Note that the picking operation timesfor the individual items and the standard traveling time are basicallynot variable values in the operation simulation, and therefore, thepurpose of the operation simulation is to accurately calculate thecongestion time. The appropriateness evaluator 116 estimates thecongestion time of the automatic conveyance apparatus 3 by simulatingthe operation of the automatic conveyance apparatus 3, so that totalvalues of the conveyance times are calculated for the individualcombination patterns.

Here, as an example, a method for calculating conveyance times of theindividual set orders by the operation simulation in the combinationpattern A ([(O1, O3), (O2, O4), (O5, O6)] will be described. In a case,for example, where the automatic conveyance apparatus 3C (AGV3) being astandby state in the standby location P3 is assigned to the set order“SET1” and traveling routes R1 to R5 are assigned as illustrated in FIG.8, when there is no traffic congestion on the traveling routes R1 to R5,the appropriateness evaluator 116, as shown in FIG. 9, obtains aconveyance time “670 seconds” by adding picking operation times andmovement times to each other.

On the other hand, as a result of the operation simulation, occurrenceof traffic congestion may be revealed on the traveling routes. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 10, in a case where the automatic conveyanceapparatus 3C (AGV3) encounters the automatic conveyance apparatus 3A(AGV1) at an intersection s1 60 seconds after departing the standbylocation P3, when an operation rule at the intersection s1 is set suchthat the automatic conveyance apparatus 3A is preferentially allowed toenter the intersection s1 and the automatic conveyance apparatus 3C isto wait 30 seconds in front of the intersection s1, a waiting time of 30seconds occurs at the intersection s1. In this case, the appropriatenessevaluator 116 calculates a conveyance time “700 seconds” by adding thewaiting time of 30 seconds at the intersection s1.

The appropriateness evaluator 116 similarly calculates conveyance timesfor the set orders “SET2” and “SET3”. FIG. 11 shows conveyance times ofthe set orders in the combination pattern A ([(O1, O3), (O2, O4), (O5,O6)]) calculated by the appropriateness evaluator 116. Furthermore, theappropriateness evaluator 116 calculates a total conveyance time (“1800seconds”) which is a sum of the conveyance times of the individual setorders (refer to FIG. 11).

The appropriateness evaluator 116 similarly calculates conveyance timesand total conveyance times of the individual set orders of thecombination pattern B ([(O1, O3), (O2, O5), (O4, O6)]) and thecombination pattern C ([(O1, O3), (O2, O6), (O4, O5)]) (refer to FIGS.12 and 13). Conveyance time information D6 a to D6 c shown in FIGS. 11to 13 are examples of the evaluation results.

The combination pattern selector 117 selects one of the plurality ofcombination patterns based on the evaluation results obtained by theappropriateness evaluator 116. Specifically, the combination patternselector 117 selects one of the plurality of combination patternscorresponding to a shortest total conveyance time. For example, when thetotal conveyance times for the combination patterns A, B, and C are“1800 seconds”, “2000 seconds”, and “2200 seconds”, respectively (referto FIGS. 11 to 13), the combination pattern selector 117 selects thecombination pattern A with the shortest total conveyance time.

The conveyance instructor 118 outputs a conveyance instruction to theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3 based on the combination patternselected by the combination pattern selector 117. Specifically, theconveyance instructor 118 transmits, to the automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 assigned to the set orders included in the selectedcombination pattern, conveyance instructions (a traveling route, adestination, and the like) corresponding to the set orders. For example,the conveyance instructor 118 transmits a conveyance instruction forSET1 to the automatic conveyance apparatus 3C (AGV3) assigned to the setorder “SET1” included in the combination pattern A, transmits aconveyance instruction for SET2 to the automatic conveyance apparatus 3B(AGV2) assigned to the set order “SET2” included in the combinationpattern A, and transmits a conveyance instruction for SET3 to theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3A (AGV1) assigned to the set order“SET3” included in the combination pattern A.

Each of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 starts picking travelingwhen obtaining the conveyance instruction. Specifically, each of theautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3 moves in front of a shelf where anordered item is stored. A worker waiting in front of the shelfaccommodates the ordered item in a container for a customer who orderedthe item in the arrived automatic conveyance apparatus 3. When a pickingoperation for one item is completed, the automatic conveyance apparatus3 moves in front of a shelf where a next ordered item is stored andperforms a picking operation. The automatic conveyance apparatus 3repeats the process until the picking operation is completed for allordered items. The automatic conveyance apparatus 3 moves to thedispatch area after completing the picking operation on all the ordereditems. When the automatic conveyance apparatus 3 arrives at the dispatcharea, a worker waiting at the dispatch area attaches a shipping label tothe container mounted on the automatic conveyance apparatus 3 and placesthe items on a shipping truck to ship the items to the customer.

As described above, when obtaining a plurality of conveyance requestsfrom the order management server 2, the operation management server 1selects an optimal combination pattern for the plurality of conveyancerequests and outputs conveyance instructions to the automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3.

Conveyance Process

Hereinafter, a conveyance process executed by the conveyance system 10will be described with reference to FIG. 14. Specifically, in thisembodiment, the conveyance process is executed by the controller 11 ofthe operation management server 1. Furthermore, the controller 11 canexecute a plurality of conveyance processes in parallel in response to aplurality of conveyance requests output from the order management server2.

Note that the present disclosure can be regarded as a disclosure of aconveyance method for executing one or a plurality of steps included inthe conveyance process. Furthermore, one or more steps included in theconveyance process described herein may be omitted where appropriate. Inaddition, the individual steps in the conveyance process may be executedin different order as long as similar operations and effects areobtained. Furthermore, although a case where the controller 11 executessteps in the conveyance process is described herein, a conveyance methodin which one or more processors execute the steps of the conveyanceprocess in a distributed manner is also regarded as another embodiment.

Here, as in the example above, the conveyance process will be describedtaking a case where the order information D2 (refer to FIG. 4) includingthe six orders (unit orders) of the customers CUSTOM1 to CUSTOM6 isreceived from the order management server 2 as an example.

First, in step S1, the controller 11 determines whether a conveyancerequest has been received from the order management server 2.Specifically, the controller 11 determines whether the order informationD2 (refer to FIG. 4) has been received from the order management server2. When the controller 11 has received the order information D2, theprocess proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, the controller 11 generates the unit order information D3(refer to FIG. 5). Specifically, the controller 11 generates the unitorder information D3 including six unit orders based on the orderinformation D2 (refer to FIG. 4) and the item information D1 (refer toFIG. 3).

Next, in step S3, the controller 11 generates a combination pattern.Specifically, the controller 11 generates a predetermined number ofcombination patterns based on a predetermined condition. Furthermore,the controller 11 generates the set order information D4 (refer to FIG.6) after generating combination patterns. For example, when acombination size of “2” of a set order is set, the controller 11 setsthree groups (set orders) obtained by dividing the six unit orders (O1to O6) into three groups each of which include two of the six unitorders. For example, the controller 11 combines the unit orders “O1” and“O3” including orders of frozen items based on a priority condition“preferentially combine unit orders including a frozen item” (refer toFIGS. 4 and 5). Furthermore, the controller 11 randomly combines twos ofthe four unit orders, that is, the unit orders “O2”, “O4”, “O5”, and“O6”.

In this way, the controller 11 generates three combination patterns,that is, a combination pattern A [(O1, O3), (O2, O4), (O5, O6)], acombination pattern B [(O1, O3), (O2, O5), (O4, O6)], and a combinationpattern C [(O1, O3), (O2, O6), (O4, O5)].

Subsequently, in step S4, the controller 11 sets a picking sequence.Specifically, the controller 11 selects starting areas where theautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3 first travel among a plurality ofpartial areas. For example, the controller 11 selects starting areas forthe individual set orders by a selection operation performed by anoperator, in a random manner, or based on congestion levels of theautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3. Here, for example, the controller 11selects the partial area A3 as a starting area for the set order “SET1”,the partial area A2 as a starting area for the set order “SET2”, and thepartial area A1 as a starting area for the set order “SET3”.

After setting the picking sequence, the controller 11 rearranges partialarea IDs, order of shelf IDs, priority order within partial area, andpicking operation times of the set order information D4 (refer to FIG.7).

Then the controller 11 sets one of the partial areas that is first to betraveled as a starting area, and in addition, sets partial areatraveling order that is order of traveling performed by the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3 on a plurality of partial areas (for example,traveling order of A1, A2, A3, A1, A2, and so on). The controller 11sets storage position traveling order which is order of shelves traveledby the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 inside the individual partialareas.

Next, in step S5, the controller 11 evaluates appropriateness for theindividual combination patterns. Specifically, the controller 11 firstobserves in real time operation statuses (current position and travelingstatus) of all the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 in the warehouse,and then assigns a conveyance instruction corresponding to thecombination pattern to the automatic conveyance apparatus 3 that iscurrently in a standby state. Subsequently, the controller 11 performsan operation simulation for all the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3including the automatic conveyance apparatus 3 corresponding to theassignment to estimate future events, such as traffic congestion, andcalculates a conveyance time for the automatic conveyance apparatus 3corresponding to the assignment. The controller 11 calculates conveyancetimes for the set orders “SET1”, “SET2”, and “SET3”. Furthermore, thecontroller 11 also calculates conveyance times for the individual setorders and total conveyance times of the combination patterns A, B, andC.

FIG. 11 shows individual conveyance times and a total conveyance time ofthe set orders corresponding to the combination pattern A ([(O1, O3),(O2, O4), (O5, O6)]), FIG. 12 shows conveyance times and a totalconveyance time of the set orders corresponding to the combinationpattern B ([(O1, O3), (O2, O5), (O4, O6)]), and FIG. 13 shows conveyancetimes and a total conveyance time of the set orders corresponding to thecombination pattern C ([(O1, O3), (O2, O6), (O4, O5)]).

In step S6, the controller 11 selects one of the plurality ofcombination patterns based on an evaluation result. Specifically, thecontroller 11 selects the combination pattern A corresponding to ashortest total conveyance time from among the combination patterns A, B,and C.

In step S7, the controller 11 outputs conveyance instructions to theautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3 based on the selected combinationpattern. Specifically, the controller 11 transmits conveyanceinstructions (a traveling route, a destination, and the like) for theset orders to the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 assigned to the setorders included in the selected combination pattern. For example, thecontroller 11 transmits a conveyance instruction for SET1 to theautomatic conveyance apparatus 3C (AGV3) assigned to the set order“SET1” included in the combination pattern A, transmits a conveyanceinstruction for SET2 to the automatic conveyance apparatus 3B (AGV2)assigned to the set order “SET2” included in the combination pattern A,and transmits a conveyance instruction for SET3 to the automaticconveyance apparatus 3A (AGV1) assigned to the set order “SET3” includedin the combination pattern A.

By this, each of the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 starts thepicking operations in parallel when obtaining the conveyanceinstruction. The controller 11 repeats the above process every time thecontroller 11 obtains the conveyance request from the order managementserver 2. In this way, the controller 11 determines an optimalcombination pattern of a plurality of conveyance requests by performingan operation simulation corresponding to the plurality of conveyancerequests under the current operating conditions of the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3.

As described above, in the conveyance system 10 according to thisembodiment, the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 travel storagepositions (shelves) of a plurality of conveyance targets (items) toconvey the conveyance targets. The conveyance system 10 receivesconveyance requests for the conveyance targets and combines the receivedplurality of conveyance requests to generate different combinationpatterns of different combinations. Furthermore, the conveyance system10 evaluates the appropriateness of the generated combination patterns,selects one of the plurality of combination patterns based on results ofthe evaluation, and outputs conveyance instructions to the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3 based on the selected combination pattern.

In this way, the conveyance system 10 generates a plurality ofcombination patterns, evaluates appropriateness of the individualcombination patterns, and employs one of the plurality of combinationpatterns based on results of the evaluation. In other words, theappropriateness of the individual combination patterns is evaluated(evaluation values are calculated), and the combination pattern with thehighest evaluation value is employed.

Here, the general technique instructs the conveyance apparatuses tocombine item request information that maximizes the number of types ofthe same item in the plurality of item request information, but does notevaluate whether a combination pattern of conveyance requests isactually appropriate. That is, it is unclear whether the generaltechnique actually reduces loss of a conveyance time for pickingtraveling. On the other hand, according to this embodiment, a pluralityof combination patterns of conveyance requests are generated,appropriateness of the combination patterns are actually evaluated, andcomparison evaluations is performed on the plurality of combinationpatterns so that one of the combination patterns is selected.Accordingly, the loss of a conveyance time for picking traveling may bereduced when compared with the general techniques. Thus, thecombinations of conveyance requests may be optimized. Furthermore, sincethe number of generated combination patterns is limited, a calculationload can be reduced.

In addition, in the conveyance system 10, a plurality of partial areasare set inside the entire area A0 of the warehouse, a plurality ofstorage positions (shelves) storing conveyance targets (items) arefurther set inside the individual partial areas, and the automaticconveyance apparatuses 3 convey conveyance targets corresponding toreceived conveyance requests inside the entire area A0. The conveyancesystem 10 receives conveyance requests of a plurality of conveyancetargets, selects a starting area that is one of the partial areas thatis first traveled, and sets the selected starting area as a partial areato be traveled first, and in addition, sets partial area traveling orderthat is order of the plurality of partial areas traveled by theautomatic conveyance apparatuses 3. Furthermore, the conveyance system10 sets storage position traveling order which is order of storagepositions traveled by the automatic conveyance apparatuses 3 inside theindividual partial areas. Accordingly, each of the automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 travels a plurality of partial areas in accordance withthe partial area traveling order described above, and also travels aplurality of storage positions in accordance with the storage positiontraveling order inside the individual partial areas, so that theconveyance targets requested to be conveyed are conveyed in the entirearea A0.

As described above, the conveyance system 10 has a hierarchicalstructure configured, as its first feature, such that a plurality ofpartial areas are set inside the warehouse (upper hierarchy) and aplurality of storage positions (shelves) are set inside the partialareas (lower hierarchy). Furthermore, the conveyance system 10 isconfigured, as its second feature, such that order of traveling on aplurality of partial areas inside the warehouse (upper hierarchytraveling order) and order of traveling on the storage positions in thepartial areas (lower hierarchy traveling order) are set. Moreover, theconveyance system 10 is configured, as its third feature, such that astarting area to be traveled first is selectable from among theplurality of partial areas inside the warehouse.

According to these features, since the starting area to be traveledfirst is selectable from among the plurality of partial areas, order oftraveling on the storage positions in the entire warehouse may bedetermined in accordance with the order of traveling on the plurality ofpartial areas inside the warehouse (the upper hierarchy traveling order)and the order of traveling on the storage positions (shelves) in theplurality of partial areas while the starting area is flexiblydetermined.

In other words, even when the starting area is changed, resetting of theorder of traveling on storage positions to be performed at the beginningis not required, storage positions in the entire warehouse are uniquelydetermined when traveling is performed in accordance with determinedrules (the order of traveling on the partial areas and the order oftraveling on the storage positions in the partial area), andaccordingly, an effect that the starting area can be easily changed maybe attained.

The conveyance system according to the present disclosure is not limitedto the above embodiment. As another embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the controller 11, for example, may calculate a total valueof amounts of power consumption of the automatic conveyance apparatuses3 corresponding to the plurality of combination patterns as anevaluation value and select a combination pattern with a lowest powerconsumption amount. Furthermore, the controller 11, for example, maycalculate a total value of congestion times of the automatic conveyanceapparatuses 3 corresponding to the plurality of combination patterns asan evaluation value so as to select a combination pattern with ashortest congestion time.

Furthermore, as another embodiment of the present disclosure, thecontroller 11 may utilize a quantum computer to perform the operationsimulation. By this, even when a combination size of the set orders islarge (when the number of containers mounted on the automatic conveyanceapparatus 3 is large), the operation simulation may be executed in ashort period of time.

It is to be understood that the embodiments herein are illustrative andnot restrictive, since the scope of the disclosure is defined by theappended claims rather than by the description preceding them, and allchanges that fall within metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalenceof such metes and bounds thereof are therefore intended to be embracedby the claims.

1. A conveyance system in which a plurality of partial areas are setinside an entire area in a warehouse, a plurality of storage positionsstoring conveyance targets are set inside each of the partial areas, andan automatic conveyance apparatus conveys the conveyance targetscorresponding to received conveyance requests inside the entire area,the conveyance system comprising: a conveyance request receiver thatreceives the conveyance requests of the plurality of conveyance targets;a starting area selector that selects a starting area that is one of theplurality of partial areas that is traveled first; a partial areatraveling order setter that sets the starting area selected by thestarting area selector to one of the partial areas to be traveled firstand sets partial area traveling order that is order of the plurality ofpartial areas traveled by the automatic conveyance apparatus; and astorage position traveling order setter that sets storage positiontraveling order that is order of storage positions traveled by theautomatic conveyance apparatus inside each of the partial areas, whereinthe automatic conveyance apparatus travels the plurality of partialareas in accordance with the partial area traveling order and travelsthe plurality of storage positions in accordance with the storageposition traveling order inside each of the plurality of partial areasso as to convey the conveyance targets corresponding to the receivedconveyance requests inside the entire area.
 2. The conveyance systemaccording to claim 1, wherein a partial area traveling order ruleprescribing order of traveling on the plurality of partial areas is set,and the partial area traveling order setter sets the starting areaselected by the starting area selector as a partial area to be traveledfirst and sets the partial area traveling order after the starting areabased on the partial area traveling order rule.
 3. The conveyance systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the partial area traveling order rule isset by traveling order of circulation of the partial areas.
 4. Theconveyance system according to claim 1, wherein a storage positiontraveling order rule prescribing order of traveling on the plurality ofstorage positions in the partial areas is set, and the storage positiontraveling order setter sets the storage position traveling order basedon the storage position traveling order rule.
 5. The conveyance systemaccording to claim 4, wherein the storage position traveling order ruleis set by ranks of storage positions in the partial areas, and thestorage position traveling order setter sets the storage positiontraveling order based on the ranks set to the storage positions in thepartial areas.
 6. The conveyance system according to claim 1, whereinthe starting area selector selects the starting area in accordance withan external request.
 7. The conveyance system according to claim 1,wherein the starting area selector automatically selects the startingarea in accordance with a predetermined condition.
 8. The conveyancesystem according to claim 7, wherein the starting area selector randomlyselects the starting area.
 9. The conveyance system according to claim7, wherein the starting area selector measures a congestion level of theautomatic conveyance apparatus in each of the plurality of partial areasand selects one of the partial areas with a lowest congestion level asthe starting area.
 10. A conveyance method in which a plurality ofpartial areas are set inside an entire area in a warehouse, a pluralityof storage positions storing conveyance targets are set inside each ofthe partial areas, and an automatic conveyance apparatus conveys theconveyance targets corresponding to received conveyance request insidethe entire area, the conveyance method causing one or more processors toexecute: receiving the conveyance requests of the plurality ofconveyance targets; selecting a starting area that is one of theplurality of partial areas that is traveled first; setting the startingarea to one of the partial areas to be traveled first and settingpartial area traveling order that is order of the plurality of partialareas traveled by the automatic conveyance apparatus; and settingstorage position traveling order that is order of storage positionstraveled by the automatic conveyance apparatus inside each of thepartial areas, wherein the automatic conveyance apparatus travels theplurality of partial areas in accordance with the partial area travelingorder and travels the plurality of storage positions in accordance withthe storage position traveling order inside each of the plurality ofpartial areas so as to convey the conveyance targets corresponding tothe received conveyance requests inside the entire area.
 11. Anon-transitory computer-readable recording medium recording a conveyanceprogram that sets a plurality of partial areas inside an entire area ina warehouse, that sets a plurality of storage positions storingconveyance targets inside each of the partial areas, and that causes anautomatic conveyance apparatus to convey the conveyance targetscorresponding to received conveyance request inside the entire area, theconveyance program causing one or more processors to execute: receivingthe conveyance requests of the plurality of conveyance targets;selecting a starting area that is one of the plurality of partial areasthat is traveled first; setting the starting area to one of the partialareas to be traveled first and setting partial area traveling order thatis order of the plurality of partial areas traveled by the automaticconveyance apparatus; and setting storage position traveling order thatis order of storage positions traveled by the automatic conveyanceapparatus inside each of the partial areas, wherein the automaticconveyance apparatus travels the plurality of partial areas inaccordance with the partial area traveling order and travels theplurality of storage positions in accordance with the storage positiontraveling order inside each of the plurality of partial areas so as toconvey the conveyance targets corresponding to the received conveyancerequests inside the entire area.